Chapter Six: Fairest and Best
Well, here's the chapter that marks the entrance of 'she who shall not be named yet'. This also means only eight more chapters until our Nutcracker finale. Sorry, but it's protical that I have for this particular story. Next up though is the party, pinky promise.
Cutie Bunny: Wesley is modeled after my older brother, so I'm used to protectiveness. Yes, Tom Thumb is to die for if you want sweet stuff.
YourEnchanting Desire: You'll just have to bear with me...
Lalallalala: Glad you like it...confusing name, though.
PrincessDiya: I don't want to spoil ANYTHING! And I am not THAT annoying, right guys? However, I am counting on you for support. This chapter has A LOT of French.
Guest: I LOVED Aro in Breaking Dawn. Especially the portrayal of him in the fims Breaking Dawn: Part 1 and Breaking Dawn Part: 2. Michael Sheen kicked ass as him. HAM iIT UP MICHAEL SHEEN! As for your request...I recomend reading this chapter.
"Well, it's safe to say that D-Day has arrived. For those of you who don't know how to read my subtle hints; my mother and I have a very bad relationship. My mother, Kathleen Danton, is not a very considerate or maternal woman. Everything in her eyes has to be perfect. Everything has to be fairest and best.
Early Thursday morning, Richard Hendricks woke his children up to inform them that their mother's flight would land at the airport this afternoon.
"I want you all on your best behavior when she arrives," he warned softly, "she's going to be tired and the less she complains, the better."
"Okay, Dad," they all groaned.
"I don't see why she even wants to come," Wesley snapped, "no offense Nellie, but you're not exactly her favorite child."
"I'm okay with her coming for my party," Helen said with a bitter tone, "but that's about all I can take. I barely want to see her tomorrow night."
"That might be a problem, Flapjack," Richard said with a nervous tone.
"Why? We don't have to pick her up at the hotel do we?" Helen asked snarkily, "can't she just hitch a ride on one of her flying monkeys?"
"We don't have to pick her up, honey," her father assured, his tone then grew even more nervous, "because she's staying here."
"WHAT?!" The three Hendricks children shouted in sync.
"She didn't want to spend any money on a hotel," he sighed.
"Oh come on!" Helen groaned, "don't they have boarding houses around here?! We can take her to a battered womens' shelter! Only we'll just say that she's the abusive one!"
"She said: I do not 'ave much muh-nee, Richard. I weeshed zat dis 'ad 'appened months ago, so zat I could 'ave bought a tee-ket in advance."
"Sounds like her," Wesley snorted, "the only mother capable of wishing for her child to have been almost raped at a time better suited to her cul plaignant."
"Je sais, droit? Est-elle naturellement ceci horrible?" Helen asked saracastically.
"I need to learn French," Henry grumbled.
"No you don't," Richard said sharply, "I don't need a third child able to communicate without my ability to understand their 'mumbo jumbo'. Now, you three get dressed and get ready. I need to meet with the defense attorney on my next case."
"J'espère que Kathleen peut d'une certaine manière travailler avec votre programme." Wesley said to their father.
"Sans espoir," Helen snickered, while Richard Hendricks rolled his eyes in frustration.
School seemed to be going at too fast of a pace for Helen that day. She could swear that it had gone from Repertoire to Pas des Deux in like less than ten minutes! Why couldn't this day go slower? She needed as much time to work on her temper around her mother.
"Helen?" Sydney's happy voice brought her back to reality, "it's time for class."
"Alright boys and girls," Ramona said in Pas des Deux, "We'll be working on a original modern piece choreographed by Zack. Oh, and Helen," Ramona Vasquez faced the ginger haired teen. "Until Arthur Desmond recovers from his injury, I'm afraid you'll have to just work at the barre and watch class."
"Do you know if he'll be okay?" Helen asked innocently.
Ramona sighed condescendingly, "if I were you, I'd be more focused on my own future." Helen then saw Aro narrow his eyes at her teacher; no matter what Helen did, if someone was cruel to her, Aro seemed to have a bizarre, instant hatred of them.
Seconds later, one of the ladies from the front office came in holding a note, she scurried and handed it to Ramona.
"Helen," she said harshly, "go to Mr. Pruitt's office."
Her thoughts were going at a speed of sixty-five miles-per-hour. What was going on this time? Had another patron selected her? Helen gulped as she opened the door to Mr. Pruitt's office.
Oh. Dear. God.
There, sitting in the chair adjacent to his desk, in black stalettos, a silver silk dress, black blazer, and her ginger hair twisted up in a knot, was Helen's mother. Kathleen Danton had made her entrance at last. Her fair skin was adorned with rouge and blue eyeshadow. Thick long eyelashes and full, rosy lips seemed to being showing themselves off, the resemblance between her and her mother was scary.
Helen felt the color drain from her face. Why? Why? Why? Why was this happening to her?!
"'Elen!" Kathleen said happily while getting up and squeezing her tightly. Mother and daughter touched cheeks, Kathleen then used one of her hands to slide under Helen's chin and compress her cheeks.
"You look bloated," she stated bluntly, "'ave you been eating a lot of salt?"
'Wow, it hasn't probably been sixty seconds. Woohoo! New record!' She thought bitterly.
"Hello...Ma-Kathleen," Helen stumbled over whether to called her 'Maman' or by her first name. She always called her the former in her 'thank-you' notes, but Helen felt more comfortable calling her mother by her first name. "Why are you here?"
"I thought zat Richard told you I was coming?" Kathleen asked.
"He did," Helen assured, "but I mean, why are you here?"
"Well," she sighed dramatically, "I wanted to go back to ze 'ouse and rest. You know 'ow I like my beauty sleep. However, zen I thought zat I should come and see dis...school. I mean, I probably won't see you finish 'ere. Ze pressure will collapse on your lack of natural ability, soon. So, I came to see you dance. Isn't dis wonderful, chéri?"
Well look at that, this situation just went from bad to 'omigod why does life hate me?!'.
"I don't know," Helen shuffled her feet nervously, "I mean, you've had a long flight and you're obviously jetlagged, Kathleen. I could always just show you back home." The last thing she needed was for her mother to start critisizing her over and over again, especially in front of Allie Alexander. Or even worse, let Aro see just how horrible Helen danced when she wasn't focused.
"Bah! I will tough it out," Kathleen dismissed with her hand, "now show me to ze class, chéri."
"Right this way," Helen said nervously, she walked back to Pas des Deux with her mother in tow. She sighed and then her mother snapped, "'Elen don't slouch!"
This was going to be an even longer day.
Pas des Deux class was at ease when she returned, it was probably time for a water break. Ramona and Zack paid no notice to Helen until she returned with her mother. They did not seem surprised by Kathleen, because sometimes parents came by to watch a class with their child. Sydney and Aggie's faces also lost their color, and they seemed to be having an internal debate on how to react. Aro, on the other hand, looked disgusted at the sight of Kathleen Danton, he shot up his nose upon first seeing her. Lastly, Allie was both curious and calm, probably waiting to find out more information.
"Ramona," Helen said nervously, "my mother is in town and wanted to know if she could watch my classes." Please let her say 'no'.
"Of course," she replied, not even glancing, "have her take a seat."
Kathleen walked over to the seat next to Aro in almost a feline like walk. She glanced at him with somewhat seductive baby blue eyes, did she not notice the gold wedding band on his left ring finger? Aro merely sneered at her flirtatious gaze, and then returned to looking at Helen with loving eyes.
"Alright," Zack said in a soft tone, "everyone to the centre, we'll get started." While the rest of class went to centre floor, Helen walked over to the barre for strengthening excersizes. Kathleen glanced at her and sighed, "I should 'ave known, you lack so much training zat ze teachers must keep you at ze barre, 'Elen."
Helen huffed in anger, and saw Allie Alexander break into a fit of silent giggless along with Grace and Lana. She was hoping that Jordan would drop her on her ass today. Aro shot a death glare and a snarl at Kathleen, like he was about to pounce and assault her.
"You're technique in't very good, 'Elen. Maybe zey should take you off pointe." Kathleen's criticism made Helen somewhat sickle her left foot. If her good-for-nothing, sociopathic, french bat didn't shut that hole on her face, Helen might lose it.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Hendricks," Ramona said in a monotonic tone to Kathleen.
"Actually," Kathleen corrected, "it is Mme. Danton."
"Mme. Danton," Ramona huffed in frustration, "I would appreciate it if you would keep your voice down. Class has begun."
"Bien entendu, I am just pointing out my daughter's flaws," Kathleen responded innocently.
'As usual', Helen thought bitterly.
"If there is a problem with Helen's technique or form, I shall correct it." Ramona almost sneered.
"I wonder," she sighed dramatically, "what are your lettres de créance?"
"What?" Ramona asked harshly.
"Credentials," Helen said with Aro, almsot simultaenously.
"If you wish to have my background checked, talk to the principal," Ramona snapped.
'I am in Hell.'
"Did I kill someone in a past life or something?" Helen asked in a strained voice while talking to her Dad on her cell phone, "because Kathleen-freaking-Danton is at my school!"
"Flapjack," Richard tried calm her down, "I'm sorry, she wanted to see your school."
"And the word 'no' just suddenly vanished from your vocabluary?! She's making my life hell!" Helen shouted.
"Helen, try and imagine this from my perspective. I'm not happy either."
"Good!" Helen snapped, "I want you to feel bad, and I want her out of the house and into a motel!"
"I can't kick her out," Richard said softly, "it wouldn't be very polite."
"Yeah," she snorted sarcastically, "because Kathleen Danton is the most polite person in the whole world!"
"Sweetie, she's leaving on Saturday. The next two days we'll be over before you know it."
"Whatever," Helen heard the bell ring, "lunch is over. thanks a lot, Dad."
In Algebra, they learned about using the FOIL method, and Helen got her last test back and passed with a eighty-two. Sydney got a seventy-four, and Aggs got a ninety-seven.
The three girls walked into Biology and sat down, why would this day not hurry up and be over?!
"Okay," their Biology teacher, Mrs. Rafferty said, "today we have a special activity: blood typing. You will each be given a eldon card, and will place a drop of water on each of the four dots. Then, you'll need to prick your finger. First clean it with the alcohol pads and use the rod's sharp point to get a small drop of blood out."
"This is gross!" Sydney whispered loudly.
"It's just blood, Syd," Aggie assured.
"I guess it pays to have the Drs. Becker for parents, sometimes." Helen snickered.
"Now after you prick your finger, use the little sticks to get a drop of blood onto the cards. After you get a drop in each of the circles, pick up the card and kind of move it around to get a reaction. Which ever circle has the blood thicken on it is your blood type. Most of you will probably be O Positive."
Sydney whimpered when she picked up the rod. "Aww," Allie said loudly from across the room, "Sydney O'dell is scawed of a wittle needle."
"I'd love to stick you with a pin and see how well you take it, Allie." Helen retorted.
"Syd," Aggie said in a soothing voice, "the alcohol won't make it hurt as much, just take a deep breath in when it happens. See? You did it, the worst part is over."
"The one thing that I could agree with the Becker's on, is that Aggie would make an amazing doctor. She has the brains to go to Harvard Medical School like Sydney's older sister, and she's so good with people, which is even more of a benefit. Should dancing not work out for her *toi toi toi*, Aggie should really study to become a doctor."
The rest of the class began following the instructions, Helen silently cried "ack!" When the needle broke her skin. She a put a drop on each circled and swirled it around, Helen looked for the spot where the reaction was happening.
Her blood type was AB Positive. Rarest of them all. Most people would go all "wow I have AB, I'm special!" No, not Helen. This was just another thing that bothered her, because Kathleen was also AB.
"So," Mrs. Rafferty said to the class, "how many of you have the blood type O?" Helen watched while Sydney and three-fourths of the class raised their hands. "How many are A?" Aggs and five more kids raised their hands.
"Any type B?" Helen saw Clare Lewis, two boys she didn't know, and Jordan Goodfellow raise their hands.
"Now, do we have any freaky AB people?" Mrs. Rafferty joked. Helen slowly and awkwardly raised her hand.
"Well, that's the interesting part. Only point-one percent of the world's population is type AB, which is the Universal Recipatent; Helen is the first student I've had who's had that rare blood type. When we talk about genetics next class, you will learn the chances of having which blood type. Homework, read chapter sixteen and do the review questions."
In English, they finished reading Romeo and Juliet, and had a a pop quiz over the literary elements in Act V. Helen had never cared much for Shakespeare, she was more into Victor Hugo's Les Miserables than she was into Shakespeare, the former of which she could proudly read in the original French. Her favorite classical book was probably The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Finally, Hip-hop arrived. Kathleen Danton was back and Aro had left. No matter how hard Helen tried, she couldn't persuade him into watching her last class. He said he thought Hip-hop was indecent, degrading, and that he wished that the curriculum would focus more on classical dance.
Luckily, Kathleen didn't have much of an opinion to give in Hip-hop. Probably because she knew absolutely nothing about it. At last, the day had ended and Helen was free to go home.
Outside in the parking lot, Helen, Sydney, and Aggie waited for their parents.
"Is Kathleen taking you home?" Syd asked.
"I don't know," Helen shrugged, "I'd rather not listen to her criticize me in a vehicle."
"'Elen!" She cringed at the sound of the familiar snooty French accent.
"Hello again, Kathleen," Helen sighed.
"Today was wonderful, no? Oh, who are your leetle friends?" Kathleen asked when she saw Sydney and Aggie.
"This is Sydney," Helen motioned to her blonde friend, "and this is Aggie," and nodded toward her dark haired friend.
"Bonjour," Aggie said while Sydney waved.
"Enchanté, I almost believed zat you two were not exsisting."
"How come?" Sydney asked while Helen did not pay her mother a glance.
"'Elen is different, no? She is not ze kind of girl I imagined anyone wanting to be friends with," Kathleen sighed. Helen's left eye twitched, it hadn't even been a day and she was ready to rip her mother's head off.
"Helen!" Maya Rickons rushed over to them, "Mr. Pruitt wants to see you! Right now!"
'Great, what a great way to end my absolutely terrible day. Trouble with Mr. Pruitt.'
Helen opened the door and instead of Mr. Pruitt, she saw Aro lounging in the principal's chair with a patient look on his face, he then gave Helen an affectionate look when he saw her.
"I apologize for having to page you, Mia Stella." Aro rose and seemed to glide over towards her, "however, I was unable to stop wondering if you were not alright."
"Well," Helen snorted, "you got your dose of Kathleen."
"I do not understand how that woman is your mother!" He growled and then regained his composure, "I apologize again if I have offended you by speaking ill of her."
"Speak as ill of her as you want!" Helen assured, "I do it and I'm supposed to love her. I'm the one who should apologize, she's so desperate for men that she was practically about ready to give you a lap dance!"
"I had assumed that she had not taken notice of my ring, but I was mistaken." Aro sighed, "sweet one, are you alright?" Helen shook her head 'no' and felt her eyes grow wet. Aro locked his arms around her and she returned his hug.
"I didn't even want her here in the first place!" Helen confessed, "who does she thinks she is, just bargining in here like that? And does she just wake up in the morning and think of new ways to make my life hell?!"
"Hush, little one," Aro whispered into her hair, "that vulgar woman will not be in your life much longer."
"At least," Helen breathed, "I have you."
Aro pulled away, smiled lovingly at her. He raised his hand to remove stray pieces of hair from her face, Helen relaxed as his hand stroked her cheek and his lips came down and placed an affectionate kiss on her forehead.
Aro had been kind enough to walk with Helen outside, she glanced up and saw rain clouds in the horizon. What was with all the rain they had been getting lately? She saw Kathleen still chatting with Sydney and Aggie.
"Hi guys," Helen said when they walked over to her mother and friends, "don't worry, I'm not in trouble."
"Oh," Kathleen saw Aro and purred, "I remember you from dis morning. I am Kathleen Danton." She held out her hand in a style as if he should kiss it, but he simply shook it for about three seconds and then ripped his hand away.
"'Ow do you know my daughter?" Kathleen said with a questioning tone.
"I am her patron, Mme. Danton," Aro said sharply but politely. He did not appear to want to make conversation with her.
"You should save your muh-nee," Kathleen corrected, "'Elen does not 'ave enough potential to become a ballerina. She lacks conviction." Helen felt as though she had been punched in the gut. How dare she! How dare her so called 'mother' do this, especially in front of the man who was supporting her with his hard earned money. Helen had learned that Aro was a well known Italian politician who loved the arts, and he would never know how grateful she was of his support. And now she would lose it because of Kathleen Danton. She had already lost enough because of Kathleen Danton!
"You know, you really should not talk as if you are familiar with your child, Mme. Danton. I believe that it is my decision on whether or not Helen Hendricks recieves my support and recommendation to the company. My dear, you act as if you have any business here, but the sad fact is, you don't. I believe you are merely looking for a reason to see Richard Hendricks again. Am I correct? If so, I kindly ask that you leave Helen," he thouroughly pronounced her name, "out of your affairs."
Kathleen Danton's face grew red, it almost looked like she was wearing too much rouge. "Another thing, when a man is wearing a wedding ring, it is a symbol of love for another woman, not a fashion statement."
"Hélène! Vous n'aurez rien à davantage faire avec cet homme! Je ne serai pas insulté comme ceci et ne faire prendre aucune action! Quand je parle avec votre
père, je le ferai rejeter le placement!" Kathleen shouted while her cheeks grew even redder, this was the last straw for Helen. She was not going to let her mother control this anymore.
"Kathleen. Tais-toi! Vous n'êtes plus le patron de moi! Si vous avez un problème avec ma vie, alors partez! Mais vous pouvez ici soutenir moi, pas l'essai et ruiner ma vie!" It had taken all of Helen's backbone to say that. Never had she told her mother to silence herself.
Kathleen exhaled deeply, "Très bien. Mais j'aurai la police fais une vérification des antécédents sur lui!"
"Avancez, vous ne m'effrayez pas." Helen replied calmly.
"Very well zen," Kathleen spoke in English again, "Anuzzer time we shall 'ave dis discussion. It was nice meeting your friends, 'Elen, come."
Helen smiled at Aro and her friends to let them know that everything was alright. Since neither Sydney or Aggie spoke French, she'd have to tell them later what she had said. Helen knew that her father would not be happy that she told her mother off, but she wasn't going to let Kathleen try and take her patron away. Crazy as it was to admit, she couldn't imagine Aro not being in her life now. But she'd be happy at her mother freaking out when her patron arrived at her party tomorrow as a guest.
NEXT UP! THE PARTY!